Lahore Provincial Government's forced church land aquisition leads to legal battle over ownership of four of the oldest churches in Pakistan

A government written order was sent to Lahore Cathedral Church (est 1877) on 10th March this year seeking forced acquisition of land from their school on the MacLeod Road side of their estate. The letter immediately triggered a panic amongst clergy and parishioners alike.

The letter demanded sale of the Cathedral land quoting acquisition laws and was written as if no option was open to the owners of the land. The church leadership were advised that the land was to be used as a pumping station, as part of the introduction of Lahore City's new underground metro system, that would revolutionize local travel and help develop a new era for local people. Sadly for the cathedral this new plan for modernisation and expansion of the local economy through transport meant the church had to be demolished. After realising the extent of the threat on the cathedral Revd Shahid Mehraj who is Dean for the Cathedral, in the presence of Bishop Irfan Jamil along with the support of the Parish Council, sent a letter on 15th March 2016 refusing to relinquish church property.

Revd Shahid Mehraj later discovered that three other churches had been affected by the Orange Lines proposal and after meeting Revd Hanooq Haq of St Andrews Church (est 1860), Revd Majeed Able of Nau Lakha Presbyterian Church (est 1860) and Revd Arshad Gill of St Paul's Church (est 1880), it was agreed that Revd Shahid Mehraj would lead a campaign to end the proposed demolition of the churches.

The Lahore Diocesan Council then submitted an application to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) calling for their Urban Development Department to alter the plans for the route of the new Orange Lines Metro system in order to preserve some of Pakistan's oldest churches – properties deemed to be of high heritage value to the Christians of Pakistan. A similar letter was sent to Lahore Orange Lines Metro Train (LOLMT), calling for the same conditions.

Under the leadership of Revd Shahid Mehraj a protest was held in collaboration with the clergy and parishioners of all four churches on 23rd March 2016. Demonstrators demanded safety for all four church buildings and a review of the Orange Lines project in Lahore. The protest gained much publicity and in a resulting post-initiation consultation presided over by the Commissioner of Lahore (Chief Executive),Captain R Usman and attended by Church leaders they have verbally agreed terms for a suitable alternative to demolition of the churches. To ensure the LDA maintain their concession a writ petition was submitted to Lahore High Court on 2nd April 2016. A temporary stay order was placed on the LDA and LOLMT on 4th April 2016 with a final judgement expected today 6th June 2016. Affeceted Churches are calling for the global Christian church to pray for success with this legal action. Revd Shahid Mehraj, said:

"Christians in Lahore have suffered a huge onslaught in the last three years. Two bomb attacks have decimated and demoralized our community, the attack on St Josephs colony saw over 150 homes burned to the ground and two churches in 2013 and now this? It is clear the Government of Pakistan and its Muslim populace do not want Christians to remain in our country, but we will do all we can to do preserve our heritage, culture and faith. We have now done all we can and the decision is in God's hands, so we urge our Christian brothers across the world to pray for our situation and for a just decision through His divine intervention"

The new proposals if accepted will now circumvent the church buildings but will require the Cathedral to temporarily demolish a main school wall.
However the 'cut and shut' process will involve the digging of deep trenches, installation of the framework for the tubelines and then the covering
over of the network and reinstatement of the land. The churches had called for a relocation of the underground rail network so that the vibrations
and noise of the orange lines network would not affect their church buildings or interrupt their services, however both the LDA and LOLMT were not
willing to even reconsider a reroute. Initial LDA demands at the post-initiation consultation (itself a malpractice as consultation are legally
required to be before any construction begins) began with an offer of 750,000 rupees per marla (30.25 sq yards) of land insisting the churches be demolished,
a risible figure at only a fraction of the lands worth. However after a lot of wrangling and a threatened long term international media campaign
the churches thwarted the destruction of these major Christian heritage sites.

Our Faisalabad Officer Kanwal Amar a former Tehsil Councillor and Lahore officer Naveed have been following the story diligently and providing assistance
and advice. They spoke with Senator Kamran Michael who expressed his regret at the government proposal.

Kanwal Amar said:

"The routing of a rail system of this nature through a heavily Christian area can only be viewed as a deliberate attempt to undermine the community. Moreover the targeting of our oldest and largest churches is an attack of the lowest order which has totally demoralized Lahore based Christians. The lack of consultation by the LDA, LOLMT and the Traffic Engineering & Transport Planning Agency (TETPA) is in breach of planning laws – quite simply the planned construction should not be allowed to proceed."

Wilson Chowdhry Chairman of the BPCA, said:

"The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has stayed silent on this matter much as it did while ancient Christian monuments and buildings were eradicated from IS held zones in the middle-east. Their silence on the destruction in Iraq was maligned, despite a lack of any influence over IS. Their silence on this proposed destruction in Pakistan, a country where they are already funding protection of several Muslim heritage sites, reeks of a lack of impetus, fortitude, and desire. The removal of these church buildings is a clear attempt at annihilating Christianity from Pakistan and can only be viewed as one prong of a multifaceted approach to an ongoing genocide in Pakistan."

He added:

"To put things in perspective I remind people that these churches predate Pakistan by over a century and have served Christians well. So well in fact, that all these churches are still full to the brim with congregations in their thousands at the larger churches. Demolishing these building would be like destroying Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, St Paul's Cathedral and St Pancras Church to make way for a London underground extension. Not only would the decision be assessed as daft but would create great furore here in Britain even from non-Christians, simply due to the loss of great heritage sites."

We encourage petitioners to continue signing our petition and we ask that your pray fervently for justice to prevail in the court descision today.

Please sign this petition (click here) calling for UNESCO and Western Governments to intervene on behalf of the four churches in Pakistan included for demolition in the Orange Lines proposal for Lahore. These churches should be protected as they preserve an important heritage for the nation as a whole but especially persecuted Pak-Christians who simply want a place to worship their God free from worldly interference.

If you would like to donate towards the work of the BPCA (click here)

Revd Hanook Haq and Kanwal Amar listen as Pastor Shahid Mehraj describes progress.